Claim OwnershipThe Steep Stuff Podcast
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Welcome to the Steep Stuff Podcast, your source for all things Short Trail
307 Episodes
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Send us Fan Mail Chris Fisher just came back from a three-month Ecuador adventure that started with almost no plan and turned into a full-on human-powered volcano mission. From a base in Quito at high altitude, he links long bike days with climbs on Ecuador’s biggest volcanoes, chasing a “Big Ten” style objective that becomes nine summits once he decides an actively erupting peak is a hard no. We get into what the miles actually feel like, including a brutal opening push to Cayambe and the re...
Send us Fan Mail A stacked start line, a rolling course that never lets your legs settle, and a late climb that can flip the whole day on its head. That’s why the Gorge Waterfall 30K feels like more than “just” an early-season trail race, and why I wanted Tyler McCandless back on Steep Stuff for a pre-race check-in. Tyler comes from a deep road and track background, but he’s been sharpening his trail running range, and this two-hour sub-ultra effort asks for the full toolkit: speed, strength,...
Send us Fan Mail A fast 30K can be more intimidating than a steep ultra, especially when the trail begs you to push from the opening minute. James sits down with Robin Vieira Brower ahead of the Gorge Waterfalls 30K to talk about what makes the Columbia River Gorge such a special place to race: lush, sea-level air, deceptively technical singletrack, and that mix of speed and flow that punishes overreaching early. We get into the nuts and bolts of trail running training from Bend, Oregon, whe...
Send us Fan Mail A great race can change your season, but it can also expose every weakness you’ve been dodging. We’re joined by Mason Coppi for a Gorge Waterfalls 30K pre-race talk that goes deeper than predictions, getting into what it really takes to show up ready when the course is fast, punchy, and technical and the men’s field is stacked. Mason shares how he’s building Hello To Running, coaching everyone from couch-to-5K athletes to runners competing at the highest level. We dig into w...
Send us Fan Mail A course that makes you hammer 5:15 pace on the road, then immediately asks you to thread technical trail like you still have fresh legs, is not a “standard” trail race. Gorge Waterfall 30K is built to punish hesitation, and that’s exactly why we wanted to sit down with Grant Colligan before the gun goes off. We talk through why Grant originally saw Gorges as a chill rustbuster after a disrupted winter, and how that plan changes fast when a deep, aggressive start list shows ...
Send us Fan Mail The Gorge Waterfalls 30K brings a rare mix of speed and strength: runnable trail, road sections where pace changes can stick, and late climbs that punish anyone who goes out too hot. We’re in Hood River with Alexa Aragon for a pre-race conversation about stepping up to 18 miles, testing her limits against a deep women’s field, and using one early-season start line to guide an entire summer of trail running goals. We talk training through an unusually warm winter, when less s...
Send us Fan Mail A five hour push across Boulder’s Flatirons sounds like a hard trail run until you add exposed scrambling, solo climbing up to 5.7, and the kind of off trail linkups where every boulder wants your ankles. We sit down with Caleb Hardaway, a new La Sportiva mountain running athlete, to unpack how he set the FKT on Jerry Roach’s Top 10 Flatirons linkup and why that time was built months before the clock ever started. Caleb walks us through the route’s moving parts: choosing a c...
Send us Fan Mail A great trail race isn’t a distance on a flyer, it’s a line you cannot stop thinking about. I sit down with Connor and Alice, the founders and race directors behind Mountain Tiger, to unpack how a “run it because it’s beautiful” mindset turned into one of the most talked-about mountain races in Donner Summit, California near Lake Tahoe. We get specific about what makes their course work: a point-to-point route that links two ski areas, hits four summits, and avoids the usual ...
Send us Fan Mail Big Alta didn’t just crown winners, it showed how quickly short trail racing in the U.S. is leveling up. Rachel & James break down a heat-impacted weekend where the 28K delivered a course record and the 50K produced tight battles that came down to execution. Rachel shares what the Big Alta course feels like at speed, why the exposure changes everything late, and how she approached racing while pregnant, chasing smart goals and still competing hard. From there, we go glob...
Send us Fan Mail Breaking news with a human pulse: we sit down with Kyle Richardson to unpack his move to Arc’teryx and what it means for the future of mountain running, creative projects, and the gear we trust on steep ground. From FKTs to film, Kyle’s vision thrives where art meets endurance, and this partnership gives him the tools, team, and runway to make it real. We dive into why the fit works beyond logos. Kyle describes a culture where designers, marketers, and athletes are climbers,...
Send us Fan Mail The NCAA doesn’t last forever, but the hunger to train, compete, and belong to a team doesn’t magically disappear at graduation. That’s where Grace Strongman is right now: a Colorado School of Mines standout, a materials engineer, and one of the newest additions to Trail Team Elite, stepping into trail racing with equal parts confidence and curiosity. We trace Grace’s story from growing up in Kansas City in an all-sports household to discovering cross country in high school,...
Send us Fan Mail A stress fracture can either end your momentum or teach you how to build a career that actually lasts. I’m joined by Elise Coates, fresh off being named to the 2026 Trail Team Elite squad, and her story is a rare blend of high-performance ambition and real-world perspective. She’s the only Canadian on the new elite squad, based on Vancouver Island, and she’s chasing the tricky middle ground where track speed meets mountain durability. We get into how a soccer background turn...
Send us Fan Mail You can feel the moment a runner starts to outgrow the track and get pulled back toward the mountains. That’s where we meet Paul Knight, newly selected for the 2026 Trail Team Elite and fresh off D2 Indoor Nationals, where a strength-focused block for the 10K unexpectedly sharpened his 3K and 5K speed too. We dig into what that kind of fitness means when you’re eyeing trail racing and skyrunning, where the pace changes constantly and the terrain demands more than clean splits...
Send us Fan Mail A re-release with a purpose: we’re celebrating Zach Erickson’s selection to the 2026 Trail Team Elite and unpacking the gritty, honest road that got him there. Zach grew up in Idaho Falls chasing every ball sport, found running in middle school, and lived the BYU dream—until a chronic hip injury benched him for a year and eventually cut him from the roster… twice. What followed wasn’t a comeback montage; it was a mindset shift. He let go of fear, built gratitude into his dail...
Send us Fan Mail A Harvard biologist who loved salamanders, a Wisconsin grad-year racer chasing deeper fields, and a Montana transplant who found her stride on steep, technical trails—Maya Rayle's story is a study in smart risk and joyful grit. We sit down to chart her rapid rise from track speed to mountain savvy, including a breakout podium at The Rut 28K and a fresh selection to the Trail Team. Maya unpacks what it’s really like to be recruited to an Ivy through likely letters, how she ba...
Send us Fan Mail A late-race surge, a flow-state descent, and a new home with the bird—this conversation with Jane Moss is pure momentum. We kick off with Black Canyon 50K where Jane, still two weeks removed and sore in all the usual places, explains how a volume-first, low‑workout block set her up to race by feel. She breaks down the risk of going out hot, the mental game of tuning out hype, and the moment she finally spotted the leader’s hat and decided to chase. It’s a masterclass in pacin...
Send us Fan Mail A helmet for the whole race. Crumbly rock. Big exposure. And somehow a course record anyway. We’re joined by Kalie McCrystal fresh off her win at the Quattro Refugios Sky Race in Bariloche, Argentina, and she walks us through what made the day click, from setting the pace early to chasing a time goal when the gap opened up. If you love skyrunning, mountain running, and the gritty details that separate a good day from a great one, this conversation delivers. We also zoom out ...
Send us Fan Mail You can feel the momentum from the first minute: a year after his last visit, Alex King returns with a bigger warehouse, a stronger brand story, and the same stubborn commitment to making trail running gear people can actually afford. We dig into the founder’s rollercoaster—$75k days, quiet slumps, and the steady routine that carries him through both—and why he refuses to chase competitors or rent attention with paid ads. Instead, Alex lays out a different model: build produc...
Send us Fan Mail Big news meets bigger mountains. We sit down with Robin Vieira Brower to unpack her dual signing with Oiselle—as a professional athlete and the brand’s director of marketing—and explore how one decision can reset what’s possible for women in endurance sport. Robin opens up about the timing, the “duality” behind the announcement, and why showing the whole athlete matters just as much as splitting seconds on course. We trace Oiselle's roots back to 2007, their return to trail,...
Send us Fan Mail The path from a bumpy summer to a national kit isn’t straight, and that’s exactly why this conversation hits. We sit down with Canadian trail standout Josh Potvin to unpack a season that tested his patience, his calf, and his mindset—then set him up to go bigger. From the rocky, runnable rhythm of Canfranc to the endless descent of hard-packed switchbacks, Josh explains how terrain specificity can scramble podium math and why wearing your country’s colors feels different than...
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